Three Moufalon Sheep

The Moufalon sheep are a wild Asian variety, referred to as "Hair Sheep" requiring no shearing as they shed their coats of hair, not wool. They are hardy and intelligent, bred for meat and trophy ram hunting. Besides being cute and friendly, I want to train my little band to be portable brush eaters. Our older neutered ram, Munchkin, comes when called so that would make the round up and transportation that much easier.

Ø      Penny

Date of Birth 1/18/04, she is our copper-colored bottle fed lamb and our first petting zoo purchase. Apparently she was lambed during extreme weather and almost died from hypothermia, necessitating her bottle-fed and "home grown" status.  Lots of studying and herd dynamic consideration took place prior to our purchases.  It's paid off with a cohesive and interesting, not to mention gluttonous band of friendly animals.

Ø      Sasha

Date of Birth is 12/12/03, she was brought inside after weaning to be Penney’s best friend and to teach her sheep skills. She has more white on her face with dark stripes above her eyes.  Initially the most typical of our "wild" sheep selection being skittish and not receptive to handling, now she's first on the block to run up for treats, tolerating a pet or two as a consequence.

Ø      Munchkin

Date of Birth is unknown but he's around 6 or 7 years old.  His purpose in life was originally to be human sustenance but his curious and tame nature forestalled the inevitable until he had ingratiated himself into the lives of his previous owners.  He's quite a character, always the first to acknowledge our proximity to the zoo with a baritone bleat, his "BBAAAA BBAAAA" sounds like he's exclaiming, "BAAADDD!!" and we've noticed he's quite the tattle-tail, always letting us know when something is amiss, i.e., the llamas won't let him in the barn to eat!

Two baby Goats

The twins, born this past St. Patrick’s Day, were 3 days old when we took over their bottle feedings. They are both female LaMancha/Boer crosses. Thank goodness they have ears, unlike their mother, but also have rather formidable horns like their father.  We studied but eschewed the common practice of disbudding (burning out the horn buds) of our babies after reading instructions and comments about the procedure.  This included rather graphic descriptions of the smells and crying that would go along with said undertaking... Jeff commented, "Yea, but what about the goats?!" 

Ø      Greta

Date of Birth, 3/17/04, she is the white kid with LaMancha characteristics and an especially tractable and gentle nature. And thank goodness with some semblance of ears... Jeff thought I was saying, "Peerless", when warning him of the unusual characteristics and look of the LaMancha breed!  Maybe, but kind of flat-headed too!

Ø      Gertrude

Date of Birth  3/17/04, “Gert” is our multi- colored ball of fire who looks more like her daddy, the Boer (not to be confused with any of my previous husbands….)  She was bottle fed by Jeff and seems to be his favorite despite her propensity for nibbling on his leg hairs.  I plan on training the goats to drive a cart and we hope their progeny will provide entertainment for our guests in the future... meanwhile they're just, "Our babies".

Two Llamas

They were delivered to the park on 3/22/04 with completely unknown histories and personalities.  We are Llearning about Llamas llittle by llittle. 

Ø      Llily

Date of birth is unknown but we think she's about 5 years old.  Llamas being my least studied zoo inhabitant, I've been extremely pleased with their ease of upkeep and interesting if somewhat aloof natures.  We can halter and lead LLily now.  Maybe she appreciates the grooming, we know she likes the sweet feed and will tentatively eat it out of our hands. She is the Mama Llama of Lleroy, and she might be pregnant with her “cria” (baby Llama) due possibly in September or October of 2004. We will be having  a “predict the llabor date contest”, Jeff and I will be counting on a Llibra date.

Ø      Lleroy

Date of birth is somewhere between September and November of 2003.  Word has it that Llily was pastured with a male llama after delivering Lleroy and apparently "breeding back" is not uncommon amongst Llamas.  The problem is in the diagnosis of pregnancy... sometimes a baby on the ground is your first conclusive evidence... (unless you keep a breeding llama and that's a whole nother chapter!)  Lleroy is our least gregarious "pet", italicized because we haven't exactly petted him yet...!  But he was sheered this Spring, a feat not to be equaled around here until, well, next Spring!  That's another story too, and my hat goes off to the other unknown and unappreciated llama shearers of the world, risking life and limb, albeit nonchalantly, in their effort to keep llamas cool!

Two Cats

Ø      Zero

Date of birth is around  September of 2003.  We found him in an animal shelter in St. Joseph, Mo. and for $12.50, got the best, neutered, immunized, and friendly cat I've ever known (plus a carrying cage)!  The first day he started jumping up on the office desk at check in, rolling over, showing off, purring and such.  I think he's scoping out his marks for handouts and attention; more often then not he ends up with the tenters all night.

Ø Charles

We don't know how old Charles is or anything much about him except he was extremely persistent in his desire to become a member of our little family.   He wouldn't go away or stop yowling... rather a pain.  I typically don't take in strays and this one was so annoying that I vowed he was going to the aforementioned animal depository just to get him out of ear-splitting shot!  Then I petted him.  He was so full of gratitude and affection, and gentle, despite my best efforts to rile him, I couldn't resist.  And a little trip to the vet's cured the yowling problem.  He is Zero's bosom friend, they are inseparable.

Visiting Equine

Ø Fabio

 Fabio's date of birth is 5-11-97.  He is one of four horses I currently own and used to ride and train regularly in dressage (pre-RV Park)!  He is a registered Friesian Sport Horse and a frequent guest here at The Park.  He has wonderful ground manners and leads with a golf cart (the more realistic horse in our logo).   He too (like Charles) used mental telepathy to entice me into buying him; he being so sickly and miserable looking... sure, I was able to ride him then... 300 pounds later and his Standardbred dam's excitable demeanor, well, he's coming along....  (Yea, with a golf cart!  It is a great way to get him exercised with minimal mental and bodily harm to me!)

Ø Mabeline

 Our newest Park visitor is a 16 month old appaloosa mule.  Bought with a mind to give her to someone else, after her first day at the farm I new she was special and my original good intention was selfishly pushed aside.  She's more independent and maybe a little snooty compared to the "Boys" and maybe patience is a virtue when dealing with mules, but she's something else.  Her first day at The Park she walked into the Country Store, I wasn't  seriously expecting her to follow me through the door...  now she expects a little air conditioned time and  browsing amidst the shelves whenever she visits.  She's yet to touch anything... so delicately sure footed!  I'm sold on mules... watch out dressage world... oh, say in 3 or 4 years!